[AZ-Observing] Re: Mars tonite

Howdy all;



Well, here we are only a couple of days before Mars at its closest, but of
course, it has been pretty good for a month or so.  I had good look tonight,
even with some clouds moving in.  Hope to get some weather luck over the
next month or so.



Clear Skies;

Steve Coe



Mars  Aug. 26, 2003

Backyard Obs. 7 inch f/15 Maksutov

Seeing = 5  somewhat cloudy

Phoenix, Arizona USA



With only a few hours to go until Mars is at its closest approach in 50,000
years, the view is very nice.  It is large and some interesting detail can
be seen even in mediocre seeing conditions.



Mare Acidalium is immediately obvious at 225X as an irregularly elongated
dark oval with light brown edges.  One the other side of the equator, Mare
Erythraeum and Solis Lacus are most easy to see.  Moving up to 275X shows
lots of detail in Solis Lacus.  The “Eye of Mars” effect is most prominent,
there is an obvious dark spot in the center of Solis Lacus and then the dark
oval around it certainly does look like a cartoon eye looking back at all
these Earthlings.  A couple a difficult dark lanes are seen radial to the
central spot in Solis Lacus, so when the seeing settles down for a moment it
looks more like a bicycle wheel with thick spokes.



When the seeing allowed, I did get a couple of glimpses of Nix Olympica.  It
is a very low contrast light spot in the Plains of Amazonia, which are at
the limb of Mars at this hour.



All in all, a great view when I realize that Mars is coming to opposition at
just the wrong time of an Arizona observer.  The “Monsoons”, the summer
storms are foiling my  long term observing plan for this opposition.  To
quote that famous philosopher, Keith Richards:  “Ya cain’t always git what
you want”.

Author "Deep Sky Observing--The Astronomical Tourist"
Saguaro Astronomy Club website
www.saguaroastro.org


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